Jemina Boyd • October 24, 2018
As a business owner, you can help your employees by providing a smarter alternative, and it involves “business process automation.”
Business process automation is a feature that streamlines repetitive tasks with minimal human intervention. It’s available in most modern enterprise software, and can be applied to your sales, supply chain, operations, accounting, and management workflows.
If used effectively, business process automation offers your business a host of benefits, including:
The most well-known benefit of businesses process automation is how it increases efficiency. By automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks, your staff will be able to focus on projects that drive value for your business.
In fact, processes like invoicing and lead tracking will be faster because files are automatically routed to the appropriate employee. You can even set automated alerts and notifications so everyone knows what they’re supposed to do and when they’re supposed to do it.
What’s more, automation means there’s no need to hire extra workers. You can shorten turnaround times and produce more with fewer resources and a smaller workforce, saving you thousands of dollars a year.
The problem with doing things manually is a higher chance for errors. Even the best and brightest employees can make mistakes, especially when it comes to processing, indexing, and labeling files.
Business process automation ensures that every procedure, whether it be invoicing or records management, is performed identically, which results in consistent, high-quality output. This also means your employees don’t have to waste their time fixing mistakes and bottlenecks.
Companies use multiple apps to streamline business processes. Sales teams use customer relationship management (CRM) to track leads and campaigns, accounting departments use enterprise resource planning (ERP) to manage company finances, and everyone uses document management systems (DMS) to process paperwork.
If these software apps work separately from each other, sharing data and managing specific functions across departments will be tough. Business process automation links these tools together, so it’s easier to move data from place to place and create complex multi-step workflows.
For example, you can program workflows that instantly process scanned customer records and input them in your CRM database, where they’ll be routed to the appropriate sales rep for analysis. You can even create workflows that manage sales orders and shipping by combining your CRM and ERP together.
Business process automation gives you a centralized dashboard where you can monitor projects and staff in real-time. This is particularly useful for tracking workflows, and making sure your team meets project milestones and deadlines.
The enhanced visibility also gives you valuable insights into your processes, which help you figure out what’s working and what’s causing the most problems for your business. From there, you’ll be able to make informed decisions on how to optimize employee productivity and efficiency.
No one enjoys doing monotonous and tedious manual tasks, such as data entry and document distribution. But if you implement business process automation, you don’t have to subject your employees to such boring and inefficient tasks. Instead, they can do more meaningful and engaging jobs, which go a long way in increasing employee morale and retention.
If you want to increase efficiency, produce consistent results, and save more money, business process automation is a must. PairSoft is a cutting-edge DMS software that integrates with various business software and automates everything from invoicing, sales, and compliance management. Not convinced? Sign up for our free personalized demo to see for yourself.
Jem Boyd has 10+ years of ERP strategic marketing and implementation experience across a variety of platforms. She specializes in developing PairSoft's platform relationships as well as campaigns with Microsoft, NetSuite, Sage, and Blackbaud. She is based in Nashville.
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